''By Raffaele de Ritis''

==Circo Medrano-Casartelli==

The Casartelli family is one of Italy’s most prominent circus families; they are also well known in the Mediterranean countries, the Balkans, and even Israel, where they tour regularly—although the name Casartelli rarely appears on their circuses’ marquees. They have used different titles over the years, most famously ''Medrano''—a title they purchased from the [[The Swoboda Family|Swoboda]] family of Austria, and which had no connection (beside the use of its famous name) with the legendary [[Cirque Medrano (Paris)|Parisian circus]].

The Casartellis run perhaps the most widely traveled circus organization in activity, having visited no less than twenty countries, some regularly, over the past seventy years (as of 2020)—sometimes with up to three units touring simultaneously. They are also active in the safari and theme park business. In contrast with typical century-old Italian circus dynasties, the Casartelli family managed to become in just a few decades one of the largest circus families in Europe; it counts today about one hundred members.

They have revived at its best the prewar tradition of the great European traveling circuses-and-menagerie, with a large family-based company surrounded by some of the best acts in business. As artists, especially equestrians and animal trainers, the Casartellis won two Gold Clowns at the [[International Circus Festival of Monte Carlo]] (in 1996 and 2007), and they have given six command performances for four different Popes at the Vatican.

===Mamma Rosina and Circo Aurora===

The first known Casartelli active in the circus was Giuseppe Casartelli, who performed in the 1850s—although not much is known of him. His sons, Pietro (1860-1922), who was known as a good hand-balancer, and Federico (?-?), an acrobat and clown, started the first Casartelli circus, with the help of their numerous offspring. As it was common in Italian circus families of the time, all of them were trained acrobats and equestrians (notably in bareback riders). When Pietro’s elder son, Umberto, better known as Romeo (1893-1933), died in 1933, the family split.

Umberto’s wife, the courageous and strong-willed Rosina, née [[The Gerardi Fanily|Gerardi]] (1898-1974), went back on the road with her son Leonida (1924-1978) and her daughters Jonne (1919-1999), Liliana (1921-2004), and Lucina (1931- 2003). She became the matriarch of the Casartelli family, establishing through her progeny the basis of the Casartelli circus dynasty. With the three horses and a caravan she received after the family split, Rosina began to move slowly from the Italian northeast to the Piedmont region, hoping to rejoin her family’s Circo Gerardi. She set up a small traveling outdoor arena, offering equestrian and aerial performances with her children, while the audience sat on soapboxes.

What was originally a survival move actually paid off: By 1936, Rosina’s show was known as the ''Arena Rosa''; by 1939, it was a full-fledged circus performing under a second-hand big top purchased from the [[The Togni Family|Togni]] circus. By 1941, her circus had become a legitimate and respectable enterprise, known as ''Circo Aurora''. During WWII, it played regularly the fairs of Tuscany, and Rosina combined her efforts in the winter with the Tognis, who ran what was by far at the time the most important circus in the country—and benefitted from the protection of the Fascist government. This association led to several Togni-Casartelli marriages, creating multiple ties between the two families.

By the end of the war, Rosina’s sons and nephews had already produced dozens of new family members, and her son Leonida took over the reins of the ever-growing family circus. At the time, Italian circus tours centered on a calendar of seasonal fairs, of which one or more circuses were generally the main feature. It was established by the [[Ente Nazionale Circhi]] (the Italian circus proprietor’s association), which used for this purpose a specific ranking system.

In 1949, three circuses were in the "first class" category: [[The Orfei Family|Orfei]], Togni, and [[The Jarz Family|Jarz]]. Leonida Casartelli’s Circo Aurora quickly reached the "second class," along with [[The Zamperla|Zamperla]], [[Alberto Zoppé|Zoppé]], and [[The Cristiani Family|Cristiani]]. Being in a higher category meant an exclusive tour of the largest regional fairs of Italy, and consequently prosperous business. And business was booming: After having bought his first elephant, Leonida acquired in 1950 a group of lions trained by Amedeo Gerardi, which he presented himself.

Under Leonida’s management, Circo Aurora regularly booked international acts, and it continued his association with the Togni family through the 1950s. In 1958, Circo Aurora caught the attention of Spanish impresario [[Osvaldo Silvestrini]], who regularly brought over foreign circuses in Cataluña—among which the Italian Togni, Jarz , and Cristiani circuses, and the French Beautour, Bostok-Robba, and [[The Bouglione Family|Bouglione]]. Circo Aurora’s success in Spain made it the first foreign company to expand its tour to other Spanish regions.

===A Circus Of Many Names===

In 1959 Leonida Casartelli’s circus, which was growing, changed its name to ''Circo Coliseum'' in order to return to Spanish towns that Circo Aurora had already visited the previous season. Circo Coliseum actually improved considerably on the original Aurora, traveling with the first tent equipped with a prototype of the "Italian" elongated cupola, and presenting a water pantomime. The show featured also some of the best Italian acrobats of the time, among whom the banquine act of the [[The Nicolodi Family|Nicolodis]], and the [[Duo Larible|Larible]] brothers’ Washington trapeze act. A group of liberty horses was also added, and the circus’s interior furnishings were improved—somehow influenced by the Spanish circus impresario [[Arturo Castilla]]’s decorative style.

The Casartellis’ Spanish tour ended in 1960. Back in Italy, in the early 1960s, the circus’s name switched frequently from ''Coliseum'' to ''Kerr-Kroll'' and back. The latter title was designed to compete with that of [[Circus Krone]], the giant German circus, which often toured in Italy at the time. In April 1963, Leonida Casartelli took his circus into a sport arena in Istanbul, Turkey. Without informing the Casartellis, the local producer, Osman Kavran, advertised the circus as "MED.RA.N.O. presents Circo Casartelli"; the ambiguous acronym was meant to stand for ''MEDiterranean Radiotelevision And News Organization''.

The Swoboda family, who had visited Turkey successfully before with their Austrian Circus Medrano, tried to have the use of that title, in whatever spelling, suppressed, but it was to no avail. Under the same banner, the Casartellis went afterward on a Turkish tour that extended to Sofia, in Bulgaria. When they returned to Italy (and subsequently visited other southern European countries) they adopted the title ''Circo di Barcelona'', and presented a lavish Spanish-style production, replete with a flamenco ballet company. In 1968 the circus visited Israel for the first time.

In the following few years, they used a variety of names (sometimes for several units visiting different countries): ''Circo Nazionale Togni'', ''Circo di Francia'', ''Circo Tokio'', ''Magic Circus'', ''Circo di Israele'', and finally, in 1971, the Tognis’ ''Circo Heros'' title. However, by 1972, in spite of its numerous name changes, the Casartelli enterprise had become one of Italy’s largest circuses, and it was finding its own identity. The only major Italian circus not using railroad transportation, its logistics were smooth, and its productions were sumptuous, with danced introductions to the acts, a big orchestra, and elaborate scenery. And whereas Italian circuses flirted with water pantomimes, ice shows and three-ring hippodrome spectaculars, Casartelli prided itself on being the only major circus faithful to one-ring, classic format—"Il Circo al 100 per 100", as it advertised itself.

===Medrano — Il Circo Famoso Nel Mondo===

Still, Leonida felt he still had to develop two important elements for his circus: a name with a strong popular appeal, and a big menagerie, as had become the norm in most major circuses in the northern part of Europe. The name ''Medrano'' had gained great popularity in Italy and in the Mediterranean countries. In these regions, the ''Medrano'' title was not connected to the celebrated Parisian circus, but to the circus founded in Austria in 1904 by [[Ludwig Swoboda]] (1881-1952), which was initially called [[Zirkus Lajos]] (''Lajos'' is the equivalent of ''Ludwig'' in Hungarian).

In 1920, for a tour of Poland, where the name Lajos was sounding a little too Hungarian (and was thus politically incorrect), Swoboda changed his circus’s name, which became "Medrano from Wien". The choice of ''Medrano'' had been obviously inspired to Ludwig Swoboda by the homonymous Parisian institution, then at the peak of its glory. ([[Jérôme Medrano]] repeatedly fought to prevent the illicit use of his name out of the French borders, but without success).

And so, the Swobodas toured extensively in Eastern Europe, the Balkans, and the Mediterranean countries—including Italy—under the title ''Medrano'' until the 1960s. After Ludwig’s death in 1952, the circus was managed by his daughters—three of whom, Therese, Anita and Wanda, had achieved considerable fame with their equestrian act, which they performed as the [[The Swoboda Family|Medrano Sisters]]. Circus Medrano-Swoboda (as it became known in the business to avoid confusion with its French counterpart) had eventually ceased its activities in 1969.

Three of the Swoboda sisters, Therese, Anita and Helena (Hella), had married and settled in Italy, where they had rented the ''Medrano'' name to various Italian circuses. Therese had died in 1951, and Anita eventually left the circus; Hella, who had married Renato Medini, of the famous Italian circus family, eventually remained sole owner of the title. In 1972, ''Medrano'' seemed to Leonida Casartelli a perfect name for his circus: Casartelli exploited the same market as had the Swobodas, a market where the ''Medrano'' title had gained, over the years, prestige and recognition. He made a deal with Renato Medini, and legally purchased a name that belonged to the seller somewhat illegitimately. (Other abusive uses of the ''Medrano'' title would later appear in Europe.)

The advertising of the new Circo Medrano announced "Medrano – Il Circo Famoso nel Mondo", and introduced a series of colorful movie-style posters, designed by the painter Renato Casaro, which stressed Circo Medrano’s main feature: its vast animal collection. Leonida Casartelli had aggressively and quickly assembled one of the best traveling zoos of the era. His was the first Italian circus to introduce in its menagerie African elephants, giraffes, a rhino, an orangutan, and, as a star attraction, a couple of gorillas.

Beside the horses, the stables included zebras, camels, and all sorts of exotic animals, and the cage wagons housed cats of every kind, monkeys, and even a host of colorful tropical birds. These animals were taken care of by fine animal trainers, with such famous names as Houcke, McManus, Smith, and Beautour, followed in time by some of Leonida’s sons. Davio (b.1956) became an elephant specialist, and Heros (b.1949) an expert equestrian—while Elio (b.1952) took care of the circus administration and performances, and their sisters Ghisi (b.1944), Jose (1947-1997), and Liviana (b.1960), supervised the different departments of the circus.

They all were performers, too, who participated in various family acts (notably a beautiful high school ensemble), and they were surrounded by some of the greatest acts of the period. One of the trademarks of Medrano-Casartelli (as the circus would become known in the business) was the presentation of "exotic" troupes of performers—African dancers, Moroccan tumblers, teeterboard troupes from the Balkans—in the manner of the great German circuses ([[Circus Hagenbeck|Hagenbeck]], [[Circus Sarrasani|Sarrasani]]…) of pre-war Europe.

===An Expanding Circus Empire===

Leonida Casartelli died in 1978 in a car accident. The management of Circo Medrano was taken over by one of his nephews, Ugo De Rocchi, who expanded Medrano’s foreign tours, and emphasized the "grandeur" of the circus. For the 1980 winter season in Rome, Medrano set up an impressive display of three big tops and, in the menagerie tent, offered a shark fight&mdash,a first in Europe! The following winter, in Milan, [[The Knie Dynasty|Louis Knie, Jr.]] joined the company with his tigers and elephants; later, in the spring, 250,000 people visited the circus in Tel Aviv. The 1982 season even saw the circus in Vienna, in direct competition with the giant Circus Krone.

In 1987, Medrano-Casartelli did its first tour in France, where its impressive menagerie—the like of which had not been seen in that country for a long while—was a sensation. But in France, where the title ''Medrano'' was duly protected and was the exclusive property of the Medrano family, the Casartellis were forced to change the name of their circus, which disappeared from all the vehicles and other visible locations and was replaced by ''Circo Italiano''. The show, which included a water pantomime, was presented by the famous French ringmaster, [[Sergio]].

In the winter of 1993, the circus stayed four months in Athens, Greece, presenting two different programs in succession. During the 1990s, a second Casartelli unit traveled with water spectaculars and circus ice shows throughout Europe. At the same time, the family interests were expanded with the purchase of some of Italy’s biggest zoos and theme parks.

Meanwhile, the extended Casartelli family spread around the globe: [[David Larible]], the son of Lucina Casartelli, became a world-famous clown, and his sister, [[Vivien Larible|Vivien]], a successful trapeze artist; of Liliana’s sons (who had married Wioris Togni), Holer became one of Europe’s best car stuntmen, and Divier, a major sport arena entrepreneur; Steve and Ronni Bello, the sons of Jose (who had married the juggler Luciano Bello), starred in a remarkable risley act at [[Circus Roncalli]], and then in [[Cirque du Soleil]]’s ''Varekai''. In 1996 the family created an extraordinary, twenty-five-minute equestrian display called ''Festa del Cavallo'', in which a dozen family members combined pyramids on horseback, jockey act, high school, pas-de-deux and liberty presentations. It received a Gold Clown at the [[International Circus Festival of Monte Carlo]].

===The Casartellis Today===

After 2000, Ugo De Rocchi’s interests became concentrated on the family’s theme park business, and the control of the circus passed into the hands of Leonida’s three sons, Heros, Davio, and Elio. In 2007, the Casartelli family won for the second time a Gold Clown at the Monte Carlo festival, with a pas-de-deux on horseback, two equestrian displays, and ''Aladdin'', an "oriental" circus pantomime in the grand old classic manner, which included no less that fifty performers and assistants (mostly family members), with a cornucopia of animals, among which a group of African elephants, a kangaroo, and two giraffes.

Circo Medrano spends basically the winter months in Italy with one or two units, and spends the rest of the year on tour abroad. Davio, who has created a spectacular act with an African elephant and two tigers, has toured with [[Circus Louis Knie]] in Austria and Germany, and with [[Cirque Arlette Gruss]] in France. Elio’s son, Brian (b.1977), took charge of the numerous exotic animals, and has produced an equestrian pas-de-deux with his sister Ingrid (b.1979), which includes Ingrid’s balancing on one foot on her brother’s head, while they are riding on horseback—a trick never seen before in the rich annals of the equestrian arts.

For its 2011 season, Circo Medrano-Casartelli was able to advertise (and truly show) three Gold and five Silver Clown winners from the International Circus Festival of Monte-Carlo—a feat that illustrates well the exceptional quality of their circus productions. Since 1990, the Casartellis have performed in Austria, Spain, France, Turkey, Greece, Israel, Cyprus, Malta, Serbia, Croatia, Slovenia, Syria, Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary, and Czechoslovakia. They are indeed the greatest ambassadors of the grand Italian circus tradition.

==Suggested Reading==

* Alessandro Cervelatti, ''Questa Sera Grande Spettacolo'' (Milano, Edizione Avanti!, 1961)
* Enrico and Serena Bassano, ''Una donna, un circo: Rosina Casartelli'' (Genova, La Stampa, 1997)
* Alessandra Litta Modignani, Sandra Montovani, ''Il circo della memoria'' (Trento, Publistampa Edizioni, 2008) — ISBN 978-88-902506-7-5
* Raffaele de Ritis, ''Storia del Circo - degli acrobati egizi al Cirque du Soleil'' (Roma, Bulzoni Editore, 2008) — ISBN 978-88-7870-317-9

==See Also==

* Video: [[Eros_Casartelli_Video_(1987)|Eros Casartelli, mixed animal act]], at the International Circus Festival of Monte Carlo (1987)

==Image Gallery==

<Gallery>
File:Orfei_Casartelli_Togni.jpg|Ferdinando Togni, Darix Togni, Leonida Casartelli and Nando Orfei (c.1970)
File:Casartelli_Israel.jpg|Circo Medrano in Israel (1985)
File:Casartelli_France.jpg|Circo Casartelli in France (1997)
File:Circo_Casartelli_97.jpg|Circo Casartelli in France (1997)
File:Casartelli_Greece.jpg|Poster for Circo Medrano in Greece (2019)
File:Medrano-Casartelli_Firenze.jpg|Poster for Circo Medrano in Florence (2019)
</Gallery>

[[Category:History|Casartelli Family]][[Category:Circus Owners and Directors|Casartelli Family]][[Category:Animal Trainers|Casartelli Family]][[Category:Exotic Animals|Casartelli Family]]

File:Circo Casartelli 97.jpg

2021-08-24T20:01:34Z

DjandoAdmin:

Poster for the French tour of Circo Casartelli. The name "Medrano" being protected in France, the Casartelli family couldn't use it for this tour and had to revert to their name as their circus's title. (1997) — ''Private Collection''

==See Also==

* Biography: [[The Casartelli Family]]

[[Category:Art Gallery|Casartelli]]

2021-08-08T18:07:41Z

DjandoAdmin:

==Cyr Wheel==

Léa Toran-Jenner and Francis Perreault.

* Video: [[Duo_Unity_Video_(2016)|Duo Unity, Cyr wheel]], at the ARoma diner-show in Belgium (2016)

[[Category:Artists and Acts|Unity Duo]][[Category:Acrobats|Unity Duo]][[Category:Roue Cyr|Unity Duo]]

Duo Unity

2021-08-08T18:07:17Z

DjandoAdmin:

==Cyr Wheel==

Léa Toran-Jenner and Francis Perreault.

* Video: [[Duo_Unity_Video_(2016)|Duo Unity, Cyr wheel, at the ARoma diner-show in Belgium (2016)

[[Category:Artists and Acts|Unity Duo]][[Category:Acrobats|Unity Duo]][[Category:Roue Cyr|Unity Duo]]

Duo Unity

2021-08-08T18:06:29Z

DjandoAdmin: Created page with "==Cyr Wheel== Léa Toran-Jenner and Francis Perreault. * Video: Duo_Unity_Video_(2016)|Duo Unity, Cyr wheel, at the ARoma diner-show in Belgium (2016) [[Category:Artists..."

Duo Unity Video (2016)

2021-08-08T18:01:00Z

DjandoAdmin: Created page with "Duo Unity, Cyr wheel, at the ARoma Diner Show in Belgium (2016) {{#ev:vimeo|584587182|740}} ==See Also== * Biography: Duo Unity Unity, Duo"

Duo Unity, Cyr wheel, at the ARoma Diner Show in Belgium (2016)

{{#ev:vimeo|584587182|740}}

==See Also==

* Biography: [[Duo Unity]]

[[Category:Video Archive|Unity, Duo]]

Les Castors

2021-08-06T21:40:33Z

DjandoAdmin:

[[File:Moustier_Family.jpg|right|400px]]
==Icarists, Foot Jugglers==

''By Dominique Jando''

The Castors may well be one of the longest running acrobatic acts in show business, with a uninterrupted career that spans more than a half-century. Even though their act has changed in appearance and details through five decades, it has remained the same in form—a mixture of foot juggling and risley act, which, over the years, has been increasingly interspersed with touches of comedy.

Toly (Anatole, b. 1943), Charly (Charles, b. 1945), and Eddy (Edouard, b. 1949) were all born in Paris, France: In spite of incessant family travels, their mother, being of Russian origin, believed that having all her children born in the French capital would ease the intricate French administrative procedures. Their father, Louis Dedessus le Moutier (1910-2004), was fourth generation of an old French circus family; Nona, their mother, was born [[The Bedinis|Bedini]], a celebrated Russian circus family of Italian origins.

===The Dedessus le Moutier Family===

The family’s surname, Dedessus le Moutier, is rather ancient and may have old aristocratic roots. One might regret, however, that no romantic tale exists in the family lore of a noble ancestor who would have fallen in love with a beautiful ropedancer or equestrienne, and left a respectable and sedentary lifestyle to follow her on the road: For once, at least, it could have had a ring of truth.

[[Image:Cirque_de_Dessus-le-Moustier_(c.1900).jpg|thumb|left|400px|left|Cirque de Dessus le Moustier (c.1900)]]The first Dedessus le Moutier known to have joined the circus was a woman, Marie-Célestine, whose son, Alphonse, created the Cirque Moustier. Alphonse had no less than ten children; one of them, Charles, was Louis’s father and the grandfather of Toly, Charly, Eddy, and their sister, Nora (b. 1938, first married to [[Rodolphe Gruss]] [1938-1964], then to the clown [[Les Chabri|Toto Chabri]]).

The name seems to have been originally spelled Dedessus le Moustier, and the family became known in the circus world simply as Moustier. But the spelling of itinerant performers’ names often changed with the transcripts of local permits, the various circumstances of life on the road, and, in our case, even the complaints of distant, upright relatives: At some point, the Cirque Moustier became Cirque ''de Dessus le Moustier'', a truly aristocratic spelling, which thumbed its nose at some sedentary Dedessus le Moustiers who had objected to seeing their name disgraced on the façade of a circus!

Louis Dedessus le Moutier and his brother, Emilien, worked in every possible capacity in their family’s circus, before creating their own knockabout acrobatic act, ''Les Frères Moustier''. When performing at the French [[Cirque Bureau]], Louis met [[The Bedini Family|Nona Bedini]], who worked in the same program with her family’s famous risley act. The rest, as they say, is history.

Louis and his wife created a hand-to-hand balancing act, and then, with Emilien and several partners, an acrobatic troupe, ''Les Arabes Blancs'', later known as ''Les Dallys'', with which they worked in their own Cirque Moustier. Toly was the first of the brothers to join the troupe in 1951, at age eight (his sister, Nora, had preceded him). Charly made his debut in 1956, and Eddy in 1958.

===Les Castors===

[[Image:Les_Castors_with_clock.jpg|thumb|right|300px|Les Castors (2009)]]With the addition of their children in the ring, Louis and Nona began to put together their own family act, which would eventually become Les Castors. It found its definite form over the years, with the inclusion of foot juggling, first, and then some icarism—specialties that were indeed familiar to Nona. Toly also became a proficient juggler, and eventually created his own juggling act in the [[Béla Kremo|Kremo]] style, under the stage name of Toly M.

Originally, the family presented their act in Native-American costumes. The name "Castors" came from ''The Red Ryder'' comics, of which Toly was fond; the Red Ryder had a young Native-American sidekick named Little Beaver (''Petit Castor'' in French), and the young Moustiers thus became known as Les Castors—a name they will keep into adulthood. Nora left the act when she married Rodolphe Gruss in 1962, and Nona left at the same time. By then, Toly was twenty, and Charly and Eddy were in their late teens; the act finally became theirs, their father just assisting them.

Throughout their long career, Les Castors have been featured in practically every major European circus, as well as in every major variety theater. They even performed at the [[Circus Nikulin|"Old Circus"]] on Tsvetnoy Boulevard in Moscow and at the [[Circus Ciniselli|"Circus on the Fontanka"]] in Leningrad (today the Circus Ciniselli in St. Petersburg) with ''Le Cirque Français'', the first western circus troupe to visit the USSR in 1960, and participated in a Royal Variety Performance for Queen Elizabeth II on the occasion of her Silver Jubilee in 1977.

The Castors have also worked with [[Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey]] in Stuttgart, Germany, during its short-lived European engagement in 1963; at Sun City Casino, Bophuthatswana, in South Africa; and in North Korea, Japan, Israel, and the Arab Emirates, among other countries. After they had played the Circus Circus Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas in 1975, their father left the act, and went to teach acrobatics at [[Annie Fratellini’s]] Ecole Nationale du Cirque in Paris. The Castors have since continued their long career on their own.

In the past two decades (as of 2014), Toly, Charly and Eddy Castors, as they are known in the business, have worked extensively in varieté shows in Germany and the U.S., most notably with Teatro ZinZanni in San Francisco and Seattle, and Palazzo Varieté in Vienna, Bale, Mannheim, and Stuttgart—for both of which organizations they have also written and directed shows. Additionally, they have run a regular variety show, ''Les rendez-vous du Musicool'', at the [[Cirque d’Hiver]]’s "Théâtre de la Ménagerie" in Paris.

They still work seasonally today, notably in German varieté, although Charly lives in Seattle, in the United States, (where he had a French cooking show on local television!) and his brothers live in France, where they also pursue their own personal interests—Eddie directing shows, Toly writing and drawing cartoons, among other activities.

==See Also==

* Video: [[Les_Castors_Video_(1971)|Les Castors, icarists]], at Paris's Cirque d'Hiver (1971)
* Video: [[Les_Castors_Video_%281973%29|Les Castors, icarists]], at Circus Knie (1973)

==Suggested Reading==

* Toly Castors, ''L'Éloge du cirque — Les loges du cirque'' (Padova, Papergraf, 2011) — ISBN 978-2-7466-2837-3

==Image Gallery==

<Gallery>
Image:Cirque_de_Dessus-le-Moustier_(c.1900).jpg|Cirque de Dessus le Moustier (c.1900)
Image:Les_Castors_at_Cirque_Medrano.jpeg|Les Castors at Cirque Medrano (1956)
Image:Les_Castors_and_the_Rickshaw_Bros.jpeg|Les Castors at Circus Wilkie (c.1960)
File:Moustier_Family.jpg|The Dedessus Le Moutier Family (1973)
Image:Toly_M.jpg|Toly M. (c.1975)
Image:Charlie_Castors_and_Les_Castors_(1999).jpg|Les Castors at Teatro ZinZanni (1999)
Image:Toly_Castors_at_Teatro_ZinZanni.jpg|Toly Castors at Teatro Zinzanni (2009)
Image:Charly_Castors.jpg|Charly Castors
Image:Charly_Castors_at_Teatro_ZinZanni.jpg|Charly Castors at Teatro ZinZanni (2009)
Image:Eddy_Castors.jpg|Eddy Castors
Image:Eddy_%26_Charly_Castors_at_Teatro_ZinZanni.jpg|Les Castors at Teatro ZinZanni (2009)
Image:Les_Castors_at_Teatro_ZinZanni.jpg|Les Castors at Teatro ZinZanni (2009)
Image:Les_Castors_with_clock.jpg|Les Castors (2009)
</Gallery>

==External Link==

* [http://www.mouvance.com/castors/index.htm www.mouvance.com/castors]

[[Category:Artists and Acts|Castors, Les]][[Category:Foot Jugglers|Castors, Les]][[Category:Risley_Acts_(Icarists)|Castors, Les]]

Les Castors

2021-08-06T21:39:12Z

DjandoAdmin: /* Image Gallery */

==Icarists, Foot Jugglers==

''By Dominique Jando''

The Castors may well be one of the longest running acrobatic acts in show business, with a uninterrupted career that spans more than a half-century. Even though their act has changed in appearance and details through five decades, it has remained the same in form—a mixture of foot juggling and risley act, which, over the years, has been increasingly interspersed with touches of comedy.

Toly (Anatole, b. 1943), Charly (Charles, b. 1945), and Eddy (Edouard, b. 1949) were all born in Paris, France: In spite of incessant family travels, their mother, being of Russian origin, believed that having all her children born in the French capital would ease the intricate French administrative procedures. Their father, Louis Dedessus le Moutier (1910-2004), was fourth generation of an old French circus family; Nona, their mother, was born [[The Bedinis|Bedini]], a celebrated Russian circus family of Italian origins.

===The Dedessus le Moutier Family===

The family’s surname, Dedessus le Moutier, is rather ancient and may have old aristocratic roots. One might regret, however, that no romantic tale exists in the family lore of a noble ancestor who would have fallen in love with a beautiful ropedancer or equestrienne, and left a respectable and sedentary lifestyle to follow her on the road: For once, at least, it could have had a ring of truth.

[[Image:Cirque_de_Dessus-le-Moustier_(c.1900).jpg|thumb|left|400px|left|Cirque de Dessus le Moustier (c.1900)]]The first Dedessus le Moutier known to have joined the circus was a woman, Marie-Célestine, whose son, Alphonse, created the Cirque Moustier. Alphonse had no less than ten children; one of them, Charles, was Louis’s father and the grandfather of Toly, Charly, Eddy, and their sister, Nora (b. 1938, first married to [[Rodolphe Gruss]] [1938-1964], then to the clown [[Les Chabri|Toto Chabri]]).

The name seems to have been originally spelled Dedessus le Moustier, and the family became known in the circus world simply as Moustier. But the spelling of itinerant performers’ names often changed with the transcripts of local permits, the various circumstances of life on the road, and, in our case, even the complaints of distant, upright relatives: At some point, the Cirque Moustier became Cirque ''de Dessus le Moustier'', a truly aristocratic spelling, which thumbed its nose at some sedentary Dedessus le Moustiers who had objected to seeing their name disgraced on the façade of a circus!

Louis Dedessus le Moutier and his brother, Emilien, worked in every possible capacity in their family’s circus, before creating their own knockabout acrobatic act, ''Les Frères Moustier''. When performing at the French [[Cirque Bureau]], Louis met [[The Bedini Family|Nona Bedini]], who worked in the same program with her family’s famous risley act. The rest, as they say, is history.

Louis and his wife created a hand-to-hand balancing act, and then, with Emilien and several partners, an acrobatic troupe, ''Les Arabes Blancs'', later known as ''Les Dallys'', with which they worked in their own Cirque Moustier. Toly was the first of the brothers to join the troupe in 1951, at age eight (his sister, Nora, had preceded him). Charly made his debut in 1956, and Eddy in 1958.

===Les Castors===

[[Image:Les_Castors_with_clock.jpg|thumb|right|300px|Les Castors (2009)]]With the addition of their children in the ring, Louis and Nona began to put together their own family act, which would eventually become Les Castors. It found its definite form over the years, with the inclusion of foot juggling, first, and then some icarism—specialties that were indeed familiar to Nona. Toly also became a proficient juggler, and eventually created his own juggling act in the [[Béla Kremo|Kremo]] style, under the stage name of Toly M.

Originally, the family presented their act in Native-American costumes. The name "Castors" came from ''The Red Ryder'' comics, of which Toly was fond; the Red Ryder had a young Native-American sidekick named Little Beaver (''Petit Castor'' in French), and the young Moustiers thus became known as Les Castors—a name they will keep into adulthood. Nora left the act when she married Rodolphe Gruss in 1962, and Nona left at the same time. By then, Toly was twenty, and Charly and Eddy were in their late teens; the act finally became theirs, their father just assisting them.

Throughout their long career, Les Castors have been featured in practically every major European circus, as well as in every major variety theater. They even performed at the [[Circus Nikulin|"Old Circus"]] on Tsvetnoy Boulevard in Moscow and at the [[Circus Ciniselli|"Circus on the Fontanka"]] in Leningrad (today the Circus Ciniselli in St. Petersburg) with ''Le Cirque Français'', the first western circus troupe to visit the USSR in 1960, and participated in a Royal Variety Performance for Queen Elizabeth II on the occasion of her Silver Jubilee in 1977.

The Castors have also worked with [[Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey]] in Stuttgart, Germany, during its short-lived European engagement in 1963; at Sun City Casino, Bophuthatswana, in South Africa; and in North Korea, Japan, Israel, and the Arab Emirates, among other countries. After they had played the Circus Circus Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas in 1975, their father left the act, and went to teach acrobatics at [[Annie Fratellini’s]] Ecole Nationale du Cirque in Paris. The Castors have since continued their long career on their own.

In the past two decades (as of 2014), Toly, Charly and Eddy Castors, as they are known in the business, have worked extensively in varieté shows in Germany and the U.S., most notably with Teatro ZinZanni in San Francisco and Seattle, and Palazzo Varieté in Vienna, Bale, Mannheim, and Stuttgart—for both of which organizations they have also written and directed shows. Additionally, they have run a regular variety show, ''Les rendez-vous du Musicool'', at the [[Cirque d’Hiver]]’s "Théâtre de la Ménagerie" in Paris.

They still work seasonally today, notably in German varieté, although Charly lives in Seattle, in the United States, (where he had a French cooking show on local television!) and his brothers live in France, where they also pursue their own personal interests—Eddie directing shows, Toly writing and drawing cartoons, among other activities.

==See Also==

* Video: [[Les_Castors_Video_(1971)|Les Castors, icarists]], at Paris's Cirque d'Hiver (1971)
* Video: [[Les_Castors_Video_%281973%29|Les Castors, icarists]], at Circus Knie (1973)

==Suggested Reading==

* Toly Castors, ''L'Éloge du cirque — Les loges du cirque'' (Padova, Papergraf, 2011) — ISBN 978-2-7466-2837-3

==Image Gallery==

<Gallery>
Image:Cirque_de_Dessus-le-Moustier_(c.1900).jpg|Cirque de Dessus le Moustier (c.1900)
Image:Les_Castors_at_Cirque_Medrano.jpeg|Les Castors at Cirque Medrano (1956)
Image:Les_Castors_and_the_Rickshaw_Bros.jpeg|Les Castors at Circus Wilkie (c.1960)
File:Moustier_Family.jpg|The Dedessus Le Moutier Family (1973)
Image:Toly_M.jpg|Toly M. (c.1975)
Image:Charlie_Castors_and_Les_Castors_(1999).jpg|Les Castors at Teatro ZinZanni (1999)
Image:Toly_Castors_at_Teatro_ZinZanni.jpg|Toly Castors at Teatro Zinzanni (2009)
Image:Charly_Castors.jpg|Charly Castors
Image:Charly_Castors_at_Teatro_ZinZanni.jpg|Charly Castors at Teatro ZinZanni (2009)
Image:Eddy_Castors.jpg|Eddy Castors
Image:Eddy_%26_Charly_Castors_at_Teatro_ZinZanni.jpg|Les Castors at Teatro ZinZanni (2009)
Image:Les_Castors_at_Teatro_ZinZanni.jpg|Les Castors at Teatro ZinZanni (2009)
Image:Les_Castors_with_clock.jpg|Les Castors (2009)
</Gallery>

==External Link==

* [http://www.mouvance.com/castors/index.htm www.mouvance.com/castors]

[[Category:Artists and Acts|Castors, Les]][[Category:Foot Jugglers|Castors, Les]][[Category:Risley_Acts_(Icarists)|Castors, Les]]

File:Moustier Family.jpg

2021-08-06T21:36:52Z

DjandoAdmin:

The Castors and their family at [[Circus Knie]]. From left to right: Choura, Charly's wife; Charly and his son Eric; Toly (seated in front); Eddy; Louis Dedessus Le Moutier, their father, and, at he window, their mother Nona, née Bedini. (1973) — ''Photo X''

==See Also==

* Biography: [[Les Castors]]

[[Category:Photo Archive|Castors, Les]]